Mobile mechanic insurance, with no shop to stand in

A mobile mechanic runs a shop with no premises: the liability travels to every driveway and parking lot, the van needs commercial auto coverage of its own, and the tools inside are property in motion. Even the garage trade's custody question reads differently when the customer's car never actually enters your shop.

Garage liability vs garage keepers
Mobile mechanic van with doors open to drawer units and a compressor, parked behind a car on a residential street

Liability without a premises

The liability core is the standard one, relocated. General liability covers the NAIC's categories, bodily injury and damage to others' property in front (NAIC, Insure U: Small Business Insurance), and for a mobile operation the "premises" is wherever the van parks: a customer's driveway, an office lot, a roadside shoulder. The claims are ordinary service-work claims, a jack that slips, a spill that stains, an injury near the work, happening on premises you neither own nor control, which is exactly what the coverage is for.

The custody question is where mobile work genuinely differs from the shop trade. Garagekeepers coverage exists for damage to a customer's auto left in your care (IRMI), and a driveway repair mostly is not that. Mostly. Test drives, repositioning a car, or hauling one to your own space for a bigger job all put a customer's vehicle under your control, and how the form treats those moments is a question to put to the agent in those words. The full decision logic is on our garage liability vs garage keepers page.

The van, the tools, and growing into a bay

The van. The NAIC's guidance is direct: a business that owns or leases a vehicle needs commercial auto coverage, personal policies may exclude business-related liability, and commercial policies carry higher limits (NAIC). A liveried van full of equipment is business use every mile.

The tools. Diagnostic gear and a full tool complement can be the operation's largest asset, and it lives in a vehicle rather than a building. Premises property coverage handles traveling equipment unevenly, so ask specifically about tools in transit and theft from the van. Know both answers, vehicle and contents, before either claim happens.

Growing. A mobile operation that takes a bay, hires a second tech, or starts holding vehicles overnight has become a shop, and the fuller stack on auto repair shop insurance applies, workers compensation included, required in nearly all states once you employ. A one-person operation weighing where it sits should also read mechanic insurance, which covers the individual-versus-shop framing. Or start at the overview.

Frequently Asked Questions

What insurance does a mobile mechanic need?
A business built out of a van needs three conversations: general liability for the work you do at customer locations, commercial auto for the van, since personal auto policies may exclude business use, and coverage for the tools and equipment that travel with you. A mobile operation with employees adds workers compensation, and one that takes vehicles into its own custody adds the garagekeepers question.
Do I need garage keepers coverage if the car never comes to me?
This is the mobile trade’s defining coverage question. Garagekeepers exists for damage to a customer’s vehicle left in your care, and a driveway repair does not look like custody in the usual sense. But the line is not always clean: test drives, moving a car to reach a repair, or taking a vehicle to your own space for a bigger job all put a customer’s car under your control. Ask the agent how the form treats those moments rather than assuming either way.
Is my van and everything in it covered by one policy?
Usually two. The van as a vehicle is the commercial auto conversation, and the NAIC warns plainly that personal auto policies may exclude business-related liability. The tools and diagnostic equipment inside are property that travels, which standard premises-based property coverage handles unevenly; ask specifically about tools in transit and theft from the vehicle. A stolen van full of tools is two claims, and both answers should be known in advance.
Does working in driveways change my liability?
It moves your premises risk onto other people’s premises. A jack failure, a fluid spill on a customer’s driveway, an injury to a bystander: the general liability conversation is the same one every service business has, relocated to wherever the van parks. Describe the real work honestly, roadside calls, driveways, parking lots, fleet yards, because the policy covers the operation it was told about.